The Music Column: Fresh take on metal lands Gollum on national label

By John StatonStaff Writer

Tuesday

Apr 7, 2009 at 2:42 PM

"The Core" will be released April 14 by storied Los Angeles label Rotten Records.

With its many layers, dynamics and intricate, moving parts, the music of Wilmington metal band Gollum is designed to take listeners on a sonic journey.Journeys, musical and otherwise, are something the band knows a lot about. On Saturday, a night that's been more than a decade in the making, Gollum will play a CD release show at The Soapbox for "The Core," an album that will be released on Tuesday by storied Los Angeles label Rotten Records.The title of the album refers to "the center of all things, the purest form of what makes you strong," said Gollum's guitarist, Frank Stroehmer. "The core of your being."Stroehmer co-founded the band in 1998 with his brother and bass player Serge Stroehmer and the drummer and lyricist Hunter Holland. Gollum self-released an album, "Lesser Traveled Waters," in 2004, "but we all had some personal issues," Frank Stroehmer said. "No to get into too much detail, but for the next couple of years we were all in limbo a little bit."By 2007 the band's members were ready to get back at it, and they re-released their original album along with a new three-song promo Frank Stroehmer recorded at the band's backyard studio in King's Grant. The recordings -- including one song collaboration with lead singer Randy Blythe of established metal act Lamb of God -- eventually caught the attention of Rotten Records head Ron Peterson, a former manager of classic thrash band Suicidal Tendencies and Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (DRI). Peterson expressed interest in signing the band, but first he wanted to fly in to Wilmington to see them perform, which he did last summer. Frank Stroehmer ran out of gas on his way to the airport to pick Peterson up, but that was the least of his worries. Days before the big showcase, Gollum’s singer quit. “Everyone was kind of freaking out,” Stroehmer said. “But he agreed to play one last show. (Peterson) met with us after the show, basically told us that he liked what he saw and wanted to sign us.”There was also the matter of breaking the news to the label head about their singer, but Stroehmer had recorded tracks with a new singer, Shawn Corbett, before Peterson came to town. “He happened to like it,” Corbett said. “So it worked out.”Peterson was impressed by Frank's studio work and "Rotten Records liked our promo so much they said they'd be happy if I would record the full-length," Stroehmer said."The Core" is characterized by heavy, intricate guitar work, singer Corbett's raspy screams and a general sense of forboding, while the album's lyrics mine themes of alienation and other dark subjects. The band takes its influences -- fathers of metal like Led Zeppelin (a lyric from the band's song "Ramble On" inspired Gollum's name) and Black Sabbath, as well as more modern masters like Brazil's Sepultura and NC's own Corrosion of Conformity -- and adds its own subtle spin, often in the form of sound samples or riffs that go off in unexpected directions. There's a sense of artistry that much straight-ahead, thrash-and-burn metal lacks. During live shows, the band will enhance its songs with various video clips -- skulls, storms, desolate landscapes, mutilations and the like -- edited together by Frank Stroehmer.In September, tragedy struck when Holland, the band's drummer and lyricist, passed away from an apparent heart attack. The band has dedicated "The Core" to Holland's memory.Seth Long, who took over on drums for Holland, acknowledges that "in terms of power and just raw brutal playing, no one can match Hunter." But Long has worked hard to live up to his predecessor's legacy.“He must’ve slept in that studio,” Corbett said of Long. “Every time I went in there he had his headphones on and bangin’ away.”The band, still mourning but determined to move on, has a June tour scheduled and they're waiting for word on a possible opening slot for a bigger band.And so, the journey continues.Details: 9 p.m. (doors) Saturday at The Soapbox, 255 N. Front St., with White Tiger & The Bed of Roses and Divide the Coast. $5 (ladies free). www.GollumBand.comJohn Staton: 343-2343john.staton@starnewsonline.com

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